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“Then, you have nothing to be concerned about.I just check them in the afternoons or evenings when I have a moment to make sure Sarah is okay.I have no interest in being a voyeur.”
I was relieved and yet a little letdown.He wasn’t tempted to see what I was doing?Ever?Of course he wasn’t.The man tolerated me for Sarah’s sake.Shaking off the darkness that had suddenly come over me, I straightened my shoulders again.I was better than this.He would not make me sad.
“I need to go wake Sarah enough to walk her up to her bed.Do you want to try and talk to her?”I asked.
“No, I’ll wait until tomorrow, when she’s fully awake.”
“Okay, well, I’ll let her know you called.”
He was silent for a moment.Had he already hung up?I knew the man didn’t like me, but that was just a level of rude I wouldn’t expect.Not even from him.
“Thanks, Oakley.For this week.All the things you’ve done with her.She’s always smiling when I see her on the cameras.I appreciate it.”
My chest felt weird and achy.I hated that.I hated that he could make me feel anything.
“I love her.No need to thank me.”My voice was tight.
I hoped there was no stupid camera in the foyer.I wasn’t sure if my emotions were all over my face or not.This camera business was going to mess with my head.
“I know you do.I just wanted you to know that I’m grateful.”
I nodded, then realized he might not be able to see me.“Thanks,” I muttered, unsure of what to say to that.
“Good night, Oakley.”
“Good night.”My reply was a touch too soft, and I ended the call quickly.
I stuck the phone back in my pocket, then stood there and stared at the wall, letting that entire conversation run through my head.
When had we talked like that last?That much?Without fighting or saying something to hurt the other one?Sarah would always be the reason we could never truly get each other out of our lives.It had been that way since the day she had been born.
But if there weren’t a Sarah, would I have truly ever moved on from Wilder?Deep down, I felt like that was impossible.He’d made a mark so powerful in me all those years ago.What we had been together burned so brightly at times that it felt as if it would consume me.He was a flame that I couldn’t stay away from.I had been drawn to him.I’d ached for him.
A heaviness settled over my heart.That was all in the past.The only thing left of that fire was the ashes.
Sixteen
Wilder
The call ended, but that didn’t stop me from looking at my phone.My gaze was locked on Oakley, standing in the elaborately decorated foyer at my home, staring at the wall, as if lost in thought.She didn’t move, except for the small rise and fall of her shoulders when she sighed.
What was she thinking about?Me?The past?
“Damn, she can make a pair of yoga pants look hot,” King said, and I turned to see him looking over my right shoulder.
I shoved the phone in my pocket, annoyed that he’d been watching her—or that he’d caught me doing it.
“Why’d you do that?”he complained.“I wanted to see if she had a bra on under that little cutoff T-shirt she was wearing.She just needed to turn to the left a few more inches.”
“You’re a dick,” I grunted and walked over to the bed I would be using tonight in the room we were sharing.
“I’m a dick?You’re the perv who has hidden cameras in his house, watching his hot ex-sister-in-law prance around anytime he wants.”
“That’s not what I was doing.I was checking on Sarah.”
King laughed.“Yeah, well, I didn’t see Sarah in that video.Must have been looking at the wrong one.”
Jerking back the covers, I climbed in bed, relieved that we would be sleeping on a mattress tonight instead of taking turns on a concrete floor underground room.There would be no screams and wails of torture coming from the room across from us and no shift we had to get up for and take over to cause those sounds.Mentally and physically, I was exhausted.That was the only reason I’d been weak.Why I had kept Oakley on the phone so long, just to watch her in the camera as she talked to me.My conscience had gotten the better of me though, and I’d told her about the security system.
